On Saturday night we saw Chinatown and the North Beach, which is the Italian neighborhood. The Chinatown was pretty big and aside from all the cheap souvenirs for sale, it seemed authentic. In North Beach’s, where we had some tiramisu and cheesecake at an Italian café, the sidewalks were packed with people bundled up in coats and scarves and the restaurants and bars were all busy. It was pretty chilly that night, but I guess that is typical weather at night in San Francisco, even in August, because the city is surrounded by water on three sides and often has a brisk and cool wind coming from the Pacific.
Sukey and Pat both had Sunday off so we all drove to the Golden Gate Bridge and hiked a part way across the bridge. It was extremely windy and cool up there. We saw a few more neighborhoods, including the Haight and Ashbury area where rock music matured in the 1960s. That night we had dinner with Patrick Delahunt and Suzy Delahunt and her husband and daughter at a lakeside restaurant in Oakland. On Monday, Charlie and I saw more of San Francisco, from sea lions in the wharf to chocolate in the big Ghirardelli store. On Tuesday we drove through parts of Silicon Valley and saw the Stanford campus and the Google headquarters (from the parking lot).
Friday, September 18, 2009
Road Trip to California
I went west to go east. Six days ago I flew to Denver and Charlie picked me up to drive an hour north to Loveland where we stayed with our aunt and uncle. The air was noticeably drier, the skies were clear and blue, and the front rage of the Rockies was always in sight. The backdrop of mountains got us excited to drive across them all the way to the Pacific.
The next morning from Loveland we drove back towards Denver and then took Interstate 70 through the mountains, by ski resorts like Copper and Vail and old mining towns such as Leadville. By late afternoon, we had reached Utah and took a small road off the interstate – a shortcut our aunt Sara told us about – towards Moab. We came across very few cars during that half hour drive, but we did see an old wood bridge where only the steel wires remained and a panoramic view of mesas and spires of red rock. In one beautiful spot with a parking area for photographs, we took some pictures of the landscape that turned out to be identical to that of postcards we saw later at the gas stations in town.
We spent just one night in Moab and both Charlie and I fell in love with the place. Unfortunately, we didn’t have two mountain bikes nor did we have much time, but we did take out our two bikes with skinny wheels out and went up and down a paved bike path that follows the Colorado River. We had crossed the Colorado River several times during our drive that day, and now it was our chance to cross it by bike on a rust-colored pedestrian and bicycle bridge. Moab was a fun Western town full of nice cafés, bars, bike shops, and tour companies and outfitters.
We ate breakfast early in Moab – Japanese style tofu and seaweed over brown rice, a breakfast burrito, and roasted potatoes – because we had a long drive to do that day. Utah was long and dry but had lots of beautiful red rocks and mesas. Nevada was even longer and just as hot, but it got a little greener and was a seemingly endless series of mountain ridges and valleys. We took US route 50, which is known as “The Loneliest Road in America.” It took six or seven hours to cross the state and we went through four towns. They were all Western towns no more than a few blocks long. Around dusk we got to Reno in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We had an awesome dinner of authentic Mexican food that tasted even better after a long day in the van and only snacking on packaged foods.
We spent the night in a motel room just outside Sacramento. After driving for about 12 hours through three states, we were exhausted and quickly fell asleep, but we arose early the next morning to see four cities that day. Over breakfast in Moab I read an article about “The Great California Garage Sale” taking place that weekend – an attempt by the state government to alleviate its massive debt by selling of cars, office furniture, computers, and other surplus state owned things. We happened to drive by the site of the garage sale so the next morning so we decided to stop and take a look. We considered picking up a computer for under $50, an old desk or some bright yellow pants with reflective stripes, but ended up leaving empty handed.
Not far west of Sacramento we reached Davis and spent a few hours there biking around campus, the university arboretum, and the “downtown,” making stops at the enology building, the math building, Charlie’s house, the farmer’s market, the Davis Co-op food store and a self-serve frozen yogurt shop (in all three of the latter places we indulged in some amazing food). It was a little like the near west side of Madison, a compact and green college town dominated by large university buildings and sports fields. There’s an excellent system of bike and pedestrian paths, complete with roundabouts and miniature traffic signs, and an endless rows of bike rakes outside of every campus building.
By now it was mid-day and we were ready to finally get to the Pacific coast, so we drove towards the Bay area and stopped in Berkeley for a couple hours, where we bike around campus (more like up and down campus, as it’s all on situated on a hill). There were some delicious looking restaurants in Berkeley, including Alice Water’s Chez Panisse and numerous Indian and Thai restaurants. We weren’t very hungry after eating our way through Davis so we just split a fruit and yogurt smoothie.
The trip across the Bay Bridge was really cool, once we finally got onto it after waiting in the severely backed up toll lines. We reached Sukey and Pat’s place around 4 p.m., which was the perfect destination. We could see the ocean and even feel it in the cool and damp breeze coming off the water – a palpable sign that the continent, and our road trip, had finally come to an end. I am sure Charlie was relieved to know that after three and half days of driving, there was no more land to drive across. And the van, with close to 160,000 miles on it and carrying a full load, had completed the trip without a problem.
The next morning from Loveland we drove back towards Denver and then took Interstate 70 through the mountains, by ski resorts like Copper and Vail and old mining towns such as Leadville. By late afternoon, we had reached Utah and took a small road off the interstate – a shortcut our aunt Sara told us about – towards Moab. We came across very few cars during that half hour drive, but we did see an old wood bridge where only the steel wires remained and a panoramic view of mesas and spires of red rock. In one beautiful spot with a parking area for photographs, we took some pictures of the landscape that turned out to be identical to that of postcards we saw later at the gas stations in town.
We spent just one night in Moab and both Charlie and I fell in love with the place. Unfortunately, we didn’t have two mountain bikes nor did we have much time, but we did take out our two bikes with skinny wheels out and went up and down a paved bike path that follows the Colorado River. We had crossed the Colorado River several times during our drive that day, and now it was our chance to cross it by bike on a rust-colored pedestrian and bicycle bridge. Moab was a fun Western town full of nice cafés, bars, bike shops, and tour companies and outfitters.
We ate breakfast early in Moab – Japanese style tofu and seaweed over brown rice, a breakfast burrito, and roasted potatoes – because we had a long drive to do that day. Utah was long and dry but had lots of beautiful red rocks and mesas. Nevada was even longer and just as hot, but it got a little greener and was a seemingly endless series of mountain ridges and valleys. We took US route 50, which is known as “The Loneliest Road in America.” It took six or seven hours to cross the state and we went through four towns. They were all Western towns no more than a few blocks long. Around dusk we got to Reno in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We had an awesome dinner of authentic Mexican food that tasted even better after a long day in the van and only snacking on packaged foods.
We spent the night in a motel room just outside Sacramento. After driving for about 12 hours through three states, we were exhausted and quickly fell asleep, but we arose early the next morning to see four cities that day. Over breakfast in Moab I read an article about “The Great California Garage Sale” taking place that weekend – an attempt by the state government to alleviate its massive debt by selling of cars, office furniture, computers, and other surplus state owned things. We happened to drive by the site of the garage sale so the next morning so we decided to stop and take a look. We considered picking up a computer for under $50, an old desk or some bright yellow pants with reflective stripes, but ended up leaving empty handed.
Not far west of Sacramento we reached Davis and spent a few hours there biking around campus, the university arboretum, and the “downtown,” making stops at the enology building, the math building, Charlie’s house, the farmer’s market, the Davis Co-op food store and a self-serve frozen yogurt shop (in all three of the latter places we indulged in some amazing food). It was a little like the near west side of Madison, a compact and green college town dominated by large university buildings and sports fields. There’s an excellent system of bike and pedestrian paths, complete with roundabouts and miniature traffic signs, and an endless rows of bike rakes outside of every campus building.
By now it was mid-day and we were ready to finally get to the Pacific coast, so we drove towards the Bay area and stopped in Berkeley for a couple hours, where we bike around campus (more like up and down campus, as it’s all on situated on a hill). There were some delicious looking restaurants in Berkeley, including Alice Water’s Chez Panisse and numerous Indian and Thai restaurants. We weren’t very hungry after eating our way through Davis so we just split a fruit and yogurt smoothie.
The trip across the Bay Bridge was really cool, once we finally got onto it after waiting in the severely backed up toll lines. We reached Sukey and Pat’s place around 4 p.m., which was the perfect destination. We could see the ocean and even feel it in the cool and damp breeze coming off the water – a palpable sign that the continent, and our road trip, had finally come to an end. I am sure Charlie was relieved to know that after three and half days of driving, there was no more land to drive across. And the van, with close to 160,000 miles on it and carrying a full load, had completed the trip without a problem.
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